Man of the Year: Matthew McConaughey

There's perhaps not an easier actor to dismiss in Hollywood than Matthew McConaughey, at least if the people in my life are any indication.  When I bring up what a stunning year the actor has had, people are quick to scoff and suggest that he's one of the worst actors around, that he's never been in a movie worth the price of admission, that he only plays one type of character.  Before this year, I wouldn't have put up much of a defense for McConaughey.  I had enjoyed his work in a few movies - most notably Dazed and Confused and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - but he seemed to always gravitate toward indistinguishable chick flicks, movies like The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Failure to Launch, and Fool's Gold.  When he got strong notices for The Lincoln Lawyer, I shrugged them away and skipped the movie, a wrong I still need to right.

Earlier this year, my friend and I went to see Bernie, knowing nothing about it beforehand aside from it being a re-teaming of director Richard Linklater and star Jack Black, who previously made School of Rock together (Linklater also directed Dazed and Confused).  Imagine my surprise not just at what a wonderfully strange and sweet movie it was, and how stellar Black's turn was, but also to find a very restrained McConaughey as District Attorney Danny Buck.  There was still a hint of McConaughey's swagger behind the glasses, but this was a different McConaughey than I would've thought to expect, had I known he was in the movie.  In a movie of strong, subtle performances, McConaughey was a stand-out.

Then came Magic Mike, the box office behemoth that threw the male gaze aside and catered to female movie-goers like no movie I've ever seen.  I went into it opening weekend mainly for the experience of seeing the movie with a crowd that would be eating it up, but I didn't expect to be part of that crowd.  In a cast full of chiseled men ripping their clothes off, McConaughey stole every scene he was in, giving one of the best performances of the year.

McConaughey's Dallas is a man of many roles: the subtly ruthless club owner, the ambitious entrepreneur, (in one of the film's best scenes) the dance instructor, and the aging but still supremely talented performer.  When Dallas takes the stage, it's the sort of movie magic that only unfolds on screen a few times a year, if we're lucky.  McConaughey is at the top of his game, coloring his offscreen Sexiest Man Alive persona with a dark, explosive star-power that demonstrates that there is much more to him than his looks.  There's a reason McConaughey won Best Supporting Actor from the New York Film Critics Circle (for both Magic Mike and Bernie) and why so many movie lovers - myself included - are crossing their fingers for the actor to snag his first Oscar nomination.

McConaughey's third turn of the year was his most against-type: the titular hitman Killer Joe.  In his NC-17 starring role, McConaughey somehow shaped his charm into a dark, dangerous form that is simultaneously magnetic and deeply repellent.  Joe has creepy chemistry with naive Dottie (Juno Temple), and in his big screen, McConaughey brandishes a piece of fried chicken in an act of sexual violence that is forever burned into my memory, and strangely enough, had me craving KFC when the movie ended.  If one ever craved proof that there was more to McConaughey than a charismatic rom-com leading man, he need look no further than Killer Joe.

The actor's fourth (he had a very busy year) turn came in Lee Daniel's problematic mess of a movie, The Paperboy.  McConaughey plays reporter Ward Jensen who teams with his partner (David Oyelowo), brother (Zac Efron), and a strange, sex-fueled jailbird lover (Nicole Kidman, who has gotten awards attention for her performance) to prove that a death row inmate (John Cusack) is innocent.  It's another fine turn in a movie full of them, but it's wasted on a horrible script that meanders and goes for cheap shocks rather than creating a sturdier narrative.  Ward is perhaps the most complex character, with his ambiguous relationship with his partner and the horrific turn of events that he (willingly?) enters into late in the film.  While it's the weak link in McConaughey's banner year, it displays his willingness to take on different parts in very different films.

McConaughey in Mud

Taken together, it's impossible to deny that McConaughey is experiencing a sort of second career that will hopefully launch him into a new sort of stardom.  He's done his time in fun, light rom-coms and adventure flicks, and now he's ready to buckle down and tackle the sorts of roles that he'll be remembered for.  In 2013, there's even more to look forward to.  On the docket are Dallas Buyers Club, in which McConaughey plays a homophone diagnosed with AIDS in the midst of the epidemic and is forced to illegally import drugs to treat himself; Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, with costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill; and Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols, in which McConaughey plays a fugitive whom two teenage boys help to evade his pursuers.